Twenty First Group establishes presence in Australia with Melbourne office
London-headquartered sports consultancy Twenty First Group has entrenched itself in Australia with a new office in Melbourne, to be led by freshly-appointed Asia Pacific general manager Jordan Heath.
Established in 2013, Twenty First Group serves clients across the sports ecosystem, including teams, owners and investors, leagues and other competitions, and broadcasters, boosting their performance and engagement through data-driven consultancy and ‘predictive intelligence’.
“To be a true partner in global sport, you need a physical presence in key markets,” said chief strategy officer Ben Marlow, a former consultant at PwC. “This will allow us to bring our unique point of view directly to some of the most exciting sports properties in the world, and we’re really excited about the impact Jordan can make being able to spend time with A/NZ clients in person.”
Heath replaces Marlow as Twenty First Group’s Asia Pacific general manager, having most recently served as a senior consultant in the UK after joining the firm from McKinsey & Company in 2022, with Steven Cliffe having been laying the groundwork in Australia and New Zealand since late 2023. According to the firm’s website, NZ Rugby and Sanzaar are among the firm’s previous regional clients.
“The local sports market is already world-leading in many areas and I’m excited to be working closer to new and existing partners in A/NZ and seeing how Twenty First Group’s services can continue to drive innovation on and off the field,” Heath said. “Having served clients in the region more closely over the last year, it was evident that an on-the-ground presence was needed to maximise our impact.”
Australia’s sports market
The establishment of a permanent office in Melbourne coincides with the latest Ashes series in Australia, during which it has also become evident the English team could do with a few pointers (indeed, the ECB is an existing client). Moreover, the firm arrives at a crucial juncture for Australian domestic cricket, with a BCG proposal for semi-privatisation fast gaining traction.
Rugby union is also facing significant challenges in Australia, as is, as ever, the country’s domestic soccer league, while tennis is also under pressure to modernise to fend off similar threats which have led to the rupture in golf, all of which have been impacted by a changing consumer landscape. Providing further opportunity, Brisbane continues its unsteady build-up to the 2032 Olympics.
Having started out with a focus on the EPL and supported clubs such Tottenham, Chelsea and Newcastle in areas as diverse as strategy, data transformation, and even the recruitment of a head coach, Twenty First Group has since spread its influence to a range of other sports and regions, including the Middle East, where the firm recently collaborated with Bain & Company on a study of the Saudi football league.
Named as a gold-level sports advisor on ConsultancyME’s annual list of the region’s leading firms, Twenty First Group backs in its AI-driven approach and the concept of competition ‘jeopardy’ to drive engagement (such as to the AFL’s current scrambling), combining strategy, data, engineering and design to fuse sporting, financial, and operational intelligence and create new areas of growth.
The new Melbourne office joins other international locations in San Francisco, Singapore, and Dubai.
